Free Press to FCC: It’s Time to Act

For Immediate Release

Free Press to FCC: It’s Time to Act

WASHINGTON - On
Tuesday, Free Press filed comments with the Federal Communications
Commission as part of the agency’s long-running open Internet
proceeding.

Free Press Policy Counsel Aparna Sridhar made the following statement:

“The basic answers in the open Internet debate have not changed, and
the FCC now has more than enough information to move forward to
preserve Net Neutrality. Efforts in Congress are stalled, and leaders
in both the House and Senate have already called on the FCC to reassert
its authority over broadband and protect Internet users. The longer the
FCC delays action on Net Neutrality, the longer the public will be left
unprotected.

“There is only one Internet, regardless of how you choose to access it.
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski himself has recognized that although
wireless and wireline connections may have different technical
characteristics, they are different roads to the same place, and that
we must preserve the openness of the Internet as a whole. The FCC
should not cave to pressure from wireless service providers and carve
up the Internet, leaving Americans to choose between an open wired
network and a closed wireless one.

“We also echo the concerns the chairman expressed last fall that
so-called ‘specialized services’ not be allowed to supplant the free
and open Internet. The FCC cannot allow this hypothetical category of
services to be used as a loophole to undermine open Internet
protections. Phone and cable companies shouldn’t be allowed to write
their own rules and build a two-tiered Internet with fast and slow
lanes.

“The FCC must act now to make clear, meaningful open Internet rules,
and re-establishing the agency’s authority over broadband is a
necessary first step. FCC action to protect the open Internet, consumer
choice and free speech online is long overdue.”

Free Press is a national, nonpartisan organization working to reform the media. Through education, organizing and advocacy, we promote diverse and independent media ownership, strong public media, and universal access to communications. Learn more at www.freepress.net

Further

Chanting "Kill the Bill, Not Us," over a hundred activists, many in wheelchairs, halted the only hearing on the Graham-Cassidy anti-health-care bill and were met with a response only the current cretins in power could conjure up: They were removed and arrested by police, Chairman Orrin Hatch told them to "shut up," and Bill Cassidy literally yawned through the turmoil. Democrat Ron Wyden called the spectacle "an abomination,” which aptly sums up the state of the Republic.